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The Big Story: Lingui-stick

Among the factors that led to the creation of modern standard Hindi in the nineteenth century, were the large numbers of Bengali bureaucrats who served in north India under the Raj. Historian Alok Rai writes that the then nascent Hindi language looked up to Bengali – already used extensively for literary purposes – for how to develop into a literary language.

It was, therefore, more than a bit ironic that President Pranab Mukherjee, a Bengali, on Monday signed a presidential order that made it compulsory for all government dignitaries, himself included, to compulsorily deliver public speeches in Hindi. The president was accepting suggestions from the Committee of Parliament on Official Languages. Other suggestions from the committee include incorporating Hindi into airline tickets and in-flight reading material. Mukherjee also granted his “in-principle approval” to making Hindi a compulsory subject from Class 8 to Class 10 in all Central Board of Secondary Education and Kendriya Vidyalya schools. Moreover, the committee also suggested that universities in non-Hindi-speaking states offer students an option to answer examinations and interviews in Hindi.

All in all, this flurry of activity left little doubt in anyone’s mind that the Union government preferred Hindi to the other languages of the Indian Union and was prepared to impose it incrementally on non-Hindi states.

This is nothing new. The Union government has followed this policy since 1947 . Hindi along with English are the only languages used by the Union government for its business. Given that only 26% of Indians speak Hindi, the majority of Indians are unable to access the workings of their own federal government. This push towards Hindi, however, has only become stronger with the Modi government taking power, given that the Bharatiya Janata Party – and earlier, its predecessor the Jan Sangh – has a long time policy that advocates for Hindi as a national language for all of India.

New Delhi’s push towards Hindi follows standard models of nationalism, given that almost every country in the world is organised around a language. In that, however, it must be recognised that Indian nationalism is different. Given that India’s many regions have rarely been united politically, they have their own linguistic traditions that have histories and roots that are much deeper than Hindi. While monolingualism might underpin most nationalisms, imposing Hindi will, on the contrary, severely fracture Indian nationalism.

If any reminders are required, the example of India’s twin Pakistan is stark. The country split along linguistic lines in 1971, giving rise to Bangladesh after West Pakistan imposed Urdu on East Pakistan.

Already in India, there is disquiet over the Modi government’s Hindi push. Referring to the CBSE order, West Bengal MP Saugata Roy said, “The Centre should have been more cautious before implementing the decision in non-Hindi speaking states.” MK Stalin, leader of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam also voiced his disapproval. Earlier in March, Stalin had warned the Modi government of “Hindi hegemony” given that it was using Hindi on road signage even within Tamil Nadu.

Tamil Nadu has seen violent protests against Hindi in the 1960s, after it was made compulsory by the Union government. As a result, in 1967, the Indira Gandhi-led Union government adopted a policy of indefinite bilingualism that enshrined both English and Hindi as official languages of the Union government. State languages were to be left alone.

Given this history, the Union government’s imposition of Hindi is unwise and also pointless. On Tuesday, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Venkaiah Naidu backed this policy up by arguing that “programmes such as Make in India and Digital India will become successful only when we use more Hindi in implementing them”. This is a curious argument given that all the big manufacturing and software industry states are non-Hindi speaking. The Hindi states lag behind in terms of economic development and industrialisation. What practical use, then, does Hindi imposition serve?

Far from Hind imposition helping, India’s policy of promoting linguistic states and giving them as much freedom has worked well. Linguistic states such as Karnataka and Maharashtra have managed to do well for themselves socially and economically. Destroying this careful arrangement by imposing Hindi would be a disaster for India.

The Big Scroll

It is time for the government to stop spreading the lie that Hindi is India’s “national language”, argues Garga Chatterjee. He also points out that imposing Hindi on all is as bad an idea as insisting that India is a Hindu country.

Stop outraging over Marathi, says Shoaib Daniyal. Hindi and English chauvinism is much worse in India.

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Political Picks

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Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar met Congress chief Sonia Gandhi in order to work out a united Opposition candidate for the upcoming election of the president.

Panama Papers: a court rejects calls to oust the Pakistani prime minister over claims of corruption.

A day after pro-Kannada activists intensified their stand against Tamil actor Sathyaraj for his allegedly insulting remarks against Kannadigas by calling for a Bengaluru bandh, the director of the movie sought support from Kannada audiences for his film.

Punditry

The freewheeling use of Article 142 is raising questions about judicial diktats inattentive to consequences, argues Kapil Sibal in the Indian Express.

There is no case for water privatisation. In pushing for it, we are ignoring the key issue, which is better governance, write Himanshu Thakkar, Arun Lakhani and Mihir Shah in the Hindu.

Indian society deludes itself that caste discrimination is a thing of the past, yet it suffuses the nation, top to bottom, argues Prayaag Akbar in Aeon.

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Don’t Miss

“The image of youth tied to jeep doesn’t define the Army’s approach to Kashmir”: Saikat Datta interviews former Indian Army commander DS Hooda on the Army’s approach to the human shield incident.

“Insurgency-related incidents have certainly come down from the peak levels of the early 2000s. The nature of the problem has morphed into a form of hybrid conflict where we are seeing the visible involvement of the local population in clashes with security forces. Social media is being used as a powerful tool to radicalise and inflame passions. This does require a slightly different approach where the police are at the forefront of tackling protestors. And this is what is largely happening. The Army does not really get involved in tackling mobs unless they are directly attacked. This is a clear operational principle.”

Adopting three simple habits can help maximise the benefits of existing sanitation infrastructure.

India’s sanitation problem is well documented – the country was recently declared as having the highest number of people living without basic sanitation facilities. Sanitation encompasses all conditions relating to public health - especially sewage disposal and access to clean drinking water. Due to associated losses in productivity caused by sickness, increased healthcare costs and increased mortality, India recorded a loss of 5.2% of its GDP to poor sanitation in 2015. As tremendous as the economic losses are, the on-ground, human consequences of poor sanitation are grim - about one in 10 deaths, according to the World Bank.

Poor sanitation contributes to about 10% of the world’s disease burden and is linked to even those diseases that may not present any correlation at first. For example, while lack of nutrition is a direct cause of anaemia, poor sanitation can contribute to the problem by causing intestinal diseases which prevent people from absorbing nutrition from their food. In fact, a study found a correlation between improved sanitation and reduced prevalence of anaemia in 14 Indian states. Diarrhoeal diseases, the most well-known consequence of poor sanitation, are the third largest cause of child mortality in India. They are also linked to undernutrition and stunting in children - 38% of Indian children exhibit stunted growth. Improved sanitation can also help reduce prevalence of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). Though not a cause of high mortality rate, NTDs impair physical and cognitive development, contribute to mother and child illness and death and affect overall productivity. NTDs caused by parasitic worms - such as hookworms, whipworms etc. - infect millions every year and spread through open defecation. Improving toilet access and access to clean drinking water can significantly boost disease control programmes for diarrhoea, NTDs and other correlated conditions.

Unfortunately, with about 732 million people who have no access to toilets, India currently accounts for more than half of the world population that defecates in the open. India also accounts for the largest rural population living without access to clean water. Only 16% of India’s rural population is currently served by piped water.

However, there is cause for optimism. In the three years of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, the country’s sanitation coverage has risen from 39% to 65% and eight states and Union Territories have been declared open defecation free. But lasting change cannot be ensured by the proliferation of sanitation infrastructure alone. Ensuring the usage of toilets is as important as building them, more so due to the cultural preference for open defecation in rural India.

According to the World Bank, hygiene promotion is essential to realise the potential of infrastructure investments in sanitation. Behavioural intervention is most successful when it targets few behaviours with the most potential for impact. An area of public health where behavioural training has made an impact is WASH - water, sanitation and hygiene - a key issue of UN Sustainable Development Goal 6. Compliance to WASH practices has the potential to reduce illness and death, poverty and improve overall socio-economic development. The UN has even marked observance days for each - World Water Day for water (22 March), World Toilet Day for sanitation (19 November) and Global Handwashing Day for hygiene (15 October).

At its simplest, the benefits of WASH can be availed through three simple habits that safeguard against disease - washing hands before eating, drinking clean water and using a clean toilet. Handwashing and use of toilets are some of the most important behavioural interventions that keep diarrhoeal diseases from spreading, while clean drinking water is essential to prevent water-borne diseases and adverse health effects of toxic contaminants. In India, Hindustan Unilever Limited launched the Swachh Aadat Swachh Bharat initiative, a WASH behaviour change programme, to complement the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. Through its on-ground behaviour change model, SASB seeks to promote the three basic WASH habits to create long-lasting personal hygiene compliance among the populations it serves.

This touching film made as a part of SASB’s awareness campaign shows how lack of knowledge of basic hygiene practices means children miss out on developmental milestones due to preventable diseases.

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SASB created the Swachhata curriculum, a textbook to encourage adoption of personal hygiene among school going children. It makes use of conceptual learning to teach primary school students about cleanliness, germs and clean habits in an engaging manner. Swachh Basti is an extensive urban outreach programme for sensitising urban slum residents about WASH habits through demos, skits and etc. in partnership with key local stakeholders such as doctors, anganwadi workers and support groups. In Ghatkopar, Mumbai, HUL built the first-of-its-kind Suvidha Centre - an urban water, hygiene and sanitation community centre. It provides toilets, handwashing and shower facilities, safe drinking water and state-of-the-art laundry operations at an affordable cost to about 1,500 residents of the area.

HUL’s factory workers also act as Swachhata Doots, or messengers of change who teach the three habits of WASH in their own villages. This mobile-led rural behaviour change communication model also provides a volunteering opportunity to those who are busy but wish to make a difference. A toolkit especially designed for this purpose helps volunteers approach, explain and teach people in their immediate vicinity - their drivers, cooks, domestic helps etc. - about the three simple habits for better hygiene. This helps cast the net of awareness wider as regular interaction is conducive to habit formation. To learn more about their volunteering programme, click here. To learn more about the Swachh Aadat Swachh Bharat initiative, click here.

This article was produced by the Scroll marketing team on behalf of Hindustan Unilever and not by the Scroll editorial team.